Confused

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf

Moderation is having a kids size shake. Those are about 300 calories. Or just having a scoop of ice cream for 150-200 calories. Maybe not every day. But if ice cream is something you like, then fit it into your calories for the day.

And yes, if you exercise above your normal daily activities, say 300 calories worth, if you follow MFP how it's designed, you would eat 300 more calories that day. If MFP gave you 1200 calories as a target, there's already a daily deficit built into that. Your normal daily activity probably uses up more than 1800 calories. So if you did 300 calories of exercise on top of that, that puts your total calories used per day to 2100. So yes, eat more than 1200 calories on those days.

Do you know your TDEE and BMR? You can use this calculator to find out. http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

If you post us your TDEE and BMR, sometimes people can help you understand better what kind of calorie intake you should have.

Hi,

I am going to try to answer your questions. I am by no means an expert but these are the things I have learned in the last 95 days.

If you are on 1200 calories (many people on here will tell you that is to low) then you should eat 1200 calories + any calories you "earn back" from exercise. If you record your foods and your exercise on MFP it will add your exercise calories back in for you. It is not a calorie for calorie conversion, so that is how you lose weight.

I used to not want to eat my calories back, but then I got stuck and my weight would not budge down. I was only eating 1200 calories so I could not cut any calories. When I started eating my calories back I actually started losing again.

As for the moderation. Basically, you have to work for what you want. If you really want that 750 calories in that milkshake then you have to burn 750 exercise calories. Or you could have it as you suggested and only eat 450 more calories that day, but that would be very unhealthy.

So if I know I am going out to dinner or do something special on a certain day, I just make sure I walk more or do extra exercise that day.

It is really quite simple I have found. Calories out have to be more than calories in.

Knowing that is easy, making it happen is much harder.

But I have found the more good for me stuff I eat the less I really want the bad stuff.

Hope this helps. Feel free to add me if you want.

Set MFP to lose 1 pound per week, if it is not already. If you chose 2 pounds per week, that is too big of a calorie deficit for you since according to your ticker you only need to lose about 20 pounds.

I don't believe in eating under 1200 calories. I made a point when my diet said to eat 1600 calories a day, that regardless of weather or not I was hungry I would make sure my net was over 1200 (some days my food choices would be low and my exercise high). I really like having a a 'minimum' calorie intake as well as a max for dieting. I also ate back some of my exercise calories and just focus on the 'net' intake for the day.
Also, if you always feel hungry, you should eat some more. Maybe just add 100-200 calories a day until your body gets use to it. Or eat ALL the estimated exercise calories back. When I first started I put down every bit of exercise I did a day, including the stairs I travel every day... When I felt like I wasn't hungry at that, or was going under without trying, I stopped adding all the little exercise I did, and just focused on adding the walks onto it.

Also, About the 750 calorie blizzard... I would suggest if you want it... EAT IT. You can shave 250 calories off of three days in the week, or 125 calories on 6 days of that week, (using one of the 7 days of the week for the blizzard)... or heck have one once a month and cut 25-30 calories off a day, would be very easy to fit it in that way. Because get this.. Your body doesn't really care if you go over the calorie intake one day. If you keep your week at goal or month goal, you will still loose. It really helped me to stop worrying about 'Oh **** I went over today', but instead go oh, I was over by 100 today... That's OK I was under by 200 on Monday. Made the stress less, and for the first time in my life I actually saw dieing progress.

I once ate back calories, but a nutritionist said that it's a bad habit to follow. You will start exercising to eat, rather than to lose weight. I couldn't disagree. And there is a tendency to under estimate calories consumed and over estimate the amount burned. The more you report of each, the more inaccurate the reporting.

The nutritionist probably didn't know that your calorie goal was calculated without exercise included. When you follow MFP's plan, you maintain the same calorie deficit when you eat back exercise calories. Agree that the calories could be overestimated though.

You will start exercising to eat, rather than to lose weight.

Whats wrong with Exercising to eat? The exercise isn't suppose to help you lose weight, its suppose to help you be healthier... and I see nothing wrong in going... 'shoot I'm hungry but I'm already high on calories' ... Well, I'll go for a extra walk, grab a big glass of water after, and have this can of vegetables. Sometimes the walk makes me less hungry than I was before and I end up with a much larger deficit than I expected. Plus, I'm not miserable for being hungry, and the dog and I got a extra walk... Whats wrong with that?

MFP already has the deficit built in so if you eat 1200 and burn off 300, you eat 1500 altogether.
Since exercise calories burned are not always accurate, you may choose to eat back 1/2 to 3/4 of your exercise calories.
The more you burn, the more you may eat back and still lose weight!
It's a beautiful system!
You may indeed have that milkshake if you can fit it in!

This! Perfectly stated.

Just a quick note, your BMR is your Basal Metabolic Rate, this is the number of calories that you need just to live if you were in a coma. Generally you should at least eat above this, as even if you are sitting most of the day you will burn more than if you were in a coma. If your BMR is 1353 I would eat at least that. Just my opinion.